Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 25

Devanagari script

आस्तामन्नादिकं तत्र यदुत्पं न प्ररोहति । न जन्म चाप्नुयाद्भूयः पक्षी वा कीट एव वा

Transliteration

āstāmannādikaṃ tatra yadutpaṃ na prarohati | na janma cāpnuyādbhūyaḥ pakṣī vā kīṭa eva vā

Translation

ત્યાં અન્ન વગેરે વાવ્યાં છતાં અંકુરિત થતા નથી. ત્યાં ફરી જન્મ મળતો નથી—ન પક્ષીરૂપે, ન કીટરૂપે પણ.

Word by Word

• āstām: let it be; be it so
• āstām: Kriyā (Main verb/विधेय)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ās (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (Imperative/benedictive usage), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular); परस्मैपदम्; अर्थे—‘let it be/so be it’ (आस्ताम्)

• anna-ādikam: food and the like
• anna-ādikam: Karma/Viṣaya (Object/topic)
• Type: Noun
• Root: anna (प्रातिपदिक) + ādika (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (Neuter), प्रथमा/द्वितीया (Nom./Acc.), एकवचन (Singular); तत्पुरुषः—‘anna-ādi’ = food etc.

• tatra: there
• tatra: Adhikaraṇa (Locative setting)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tatra (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (Indeclinable), देशवाचक अव्यय (locative adverb)

• yat: which
• yat: Karma (Object of prarohati)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (Neuter), प्रथमा/द्वितीया (Nom./Acc.), एकवचन (Singular); सम्बन्धक (relative pronoun)

• utpam: that which has arisen/produced (reading uncertain)
• utpam: Karma (Object; apposition to yat)
• Type: Noun
• Root: utpa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (Neuter), प्रथमा/द्वितीया (Nom./Acc.), एकवचन (Singular); पाठभेद/अस्पष्ट रूप—सम्भाव्यं ‘utpannaṃ/utpādyam’ इत्यर्थे

• na: not
• na: Pratiṣedha (Negation)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-अव्यय (negation particle)

• prarohati: sprouts/grows up
• prarohati: Kriyā (Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: pra-ruh (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular); परस्मैपदम्

• na: not
• na: Pratiṣedha (Negation)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-अव्यय (negation particle)

• janma: birth
• janma: Karma (Object of āpnuyāt)
• Type: Noun
• Root: janman (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (Neuter), द्वितीया (Accusative), एकवचन (Singular)

• ca: and
• ca: Samuccaya (Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• āpnuyāt: would obtain
• āpnuyāt: Kriyā (Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: āp (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन (Singular); परस्मैपदम्

• bhūyaḥ: again
• bhūyaḥ: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (Adverbial modifier)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: bhūyas (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb)

• pakṣī: a bird
• pakṣī: Karta (Subject; implied for āpnuyāt)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pakṣin (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग (Masculine), प्रथमा (Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• vā: or
• vā: Vikalpa (Alternative)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: vā (अव्यय)
• Form: विकल्प-अव्यय (disjunctive particle)

• kīṭaḥ: an insect/worm
• kīṭaḥ: Karta (Subject; alternative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kīṭa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग (Masculine), प्रथमा (Nominative), एकवचन (Singular)

• eva: indeed/just
• eva: Avadhāraṇa (Emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अवधारण-अव्यय (emphatic particle)

• vā: or
• vā: Vikalpa (Alternative)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: vā (अव्यय)
• Form: विकल्प-अव्यय (disjunctive particle)

Speaker

Unspecified narrator within the Purāṇic frame

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (context); Ūṣara-bhūmi (saline sacred tract)

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: (Not explicit in this verse excerpt)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A white, salt-crusted plain near a sacred precinct; seeds scattered on the ground remain unsprouted; pilgrims and ascetics contemplate the uncanny sterility as a sign of spiritual release.

Characters & Entities

• Ūṣara (barren land)
• Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra (context)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Certain places are portrayed as spiritually marked zones where the consequences of past acts shape both fertility and the experience of embodied life.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

The narrative continues within the Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya, describing a specific barren tract associated with the kṣetra.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it describes the extraordinary condition of the land and its karmic aura.